Making Democracy Work awards presented
By Tom Ganser
Correspondent
On Dec. 1, Marge Fischer, Sandra Heyer, Jorge Islas and Anjie Kokan were honored at the Whitewater Country Club as the recipients of the Whitewater Area League of Women Voters 4th annual Making Democracy Work award.
Fischer, Heyer, Islas and Kokan serve in the Whitewater adult ESL program, an outreach offering of the Whitewater Unified School District for 17 years. Heyer administers the program, Islas is a Level One teacher, Kokan is a Level Two and citizenship class teacher and Fisher is a Level Three teacher. Heyer, Islas and Fisher have volunteered in the program for 17 years, and Kokan for 12 years.
The League’s Making Democracy Work award was developed in 2010 during the 90th anniversary year of the formation of the national league and passage of the 19th amendment in 1920 to honor the civic professional or volunteer work of community members to improve the Whitewater community.
According the Ellen Penwell, president of the Whitewater Area League of Women Voters, “In selecting each year’s honoree, the League looks for individuals who have shared and implemented a vision of making Whitewater a safer and fairer place in which to live and those who have mobilized others to work with them to affect positive change in our community.”
Past recipients of the award include Jim Stewart (2010), Marilyn Kienbaum (2011) and Michele Smith (2012).
According to Lenora Heim, WUSD Director of Student Services, the program provides English language instruction to area adults who desire to learn English so they can better connect within the community and can support the language learning of their family. English language classes are offered on four different levels of language proficiency and students practice reading, writing and speaking English. In addition, students can learn basic computer literacy skills and are able to work towards citizenship and obtaining a GED (General Education Development) degree.
The program is open to immigrants from any country. In recent years, the students’ native languages have included Spanish, Chinese, Mongolian and Arabic, among others.
The program serves about 100 students annually and also provides childcare service for 30 or more children during class meetings. The majority of the students are women and they would not be able to attend without the daycare component.
Read the complete story in this week’s Whitewater Register.
